Anyway, the great writers over there have inspired this post.
My Christmas decorations are up. I honestly didn't think they would be. In fact, just two weeks ago I tested my husband by saying, "Maybe we shouldn't put decorations up this year. Who cares?" and he agreed and then I yelled at him for agreeing.
The thought of decorating was really exhausting to me. There's putting up a tree, unwrapping hundreds of ornaments, untangling lights, and vacuuming up errant needles from the strings of garland decking our halls; and then a month later, taking it all back down. Between all the earning a paycheck, cooking meals from a box, watching TV and playing Farmville, I didn't think I had the time for Christmas decorating this year.
However, thanks go my wonderful employers and their generous paid time off policy, I was able to have Thursday through Monday off work (and got to leave early Wednesday). That's 5 -- count 'em -- 5 fabulous-stay-up-late-sleep-in-watch-tv-nap days. I felt like a college student again. All that sleep gave me energy I didn't know I had. But it still wasn't easy -- the tree was in the attic. The decorations were in storage boxes all over God's creation. Extension cords were needed. The tree skirt was missing. It was mass Christmas chaos.
And to make things more complicated, this is our first Christmas in the new house and we weren't sure where the tree would fit. There's plenty of space in the living room but it meant moving some things around. Hubby wanted to move everything; I wanted to move one thing. We ended up moving 3 small things and are very pleased with the results.
The most daunting thing for me is, always has been, ornament hanging. I really hate it. I love ornaments and think they look amazing on a tree. I don't like unwrapping them or choosing a place for them. Last Christmas my sister was visiting and spent 2 hours asking me to "just put up one more" ornament. "Just one more, Sister, then you can stop!" And one more turned into A LOT more. It just makes me want to nap instead.
Here's a rundown of how our decorating went this weekend.
6:30 - Hubby got the tree down from the attic and tracked down storage boxes
6:45 - Hubby's job is done and I'm generously given decorating duties
7:00 - Argue about where the tree will go
7:30 - Argument over tree location continues
7:45 - Things are moved
8:00 - Things are moved back
8:15 - Things are left all over the place and we have dinner
9:15 - Take the bottom part of the tree out of the box
9:17 - Discover tree skirt is nowhere to be found
9:19 - Farmville break
9:40 - Begin playing Wii and continue until 1:30 am
Saturday Afternoon
1:45 - Things are moved; tree location is finalized
1:50 - Vacuum all the dust bunnies that have appeared after moving things (Only the ones that are visible)
2:10 - Tree bottom is moved
2:15 - Tree skirt is miraculously found, along with a wreath for the door (Hubby for the win!)
2:30 - Tree is set up; begin "fluffing" the branches
2:45 - Finish "fluffing"
2:46 - Ask Hubby how it looks; he says it looks like I missed a few; Hubby is told that if it looks wrong, he can fix it himself
2:47 - Begin hooking up pre-lit tree lights
2:48 - Give up and ask for help
2:49 - Farmville break
3:00 - Decide to go to Michaels, Lowes, Walmart and to get a pizza
Saturday Night
6:45 - Minor Walmart Meltdown
7:00 - Eat pizza
8:00 - Farmville break
9:10 - Decorate the garland using premade sprays from Michaels
9:40 - Begin putting on ornaments
10:00 -Get distracted by cats
10:10 - Continue with ornaments
10:20 - Find Hubby to see what he's up to
10:30 - Continue with ornaments
10:40 - Eat a cupcake
10:50- Finish ornaments!
And that just about sums up our decorating. It wasn't easy, it took forever, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. Hubby put some icicle lights around the gutters in the front, too, so we're super festive! I'm going to enjoy them immensely until I get around to taking them down -- we're talking mid-January, earliest.
What are your favorite and least favorite parts of Christmas decorating?
6 comments:
Love your timeline of events - sounds like how it goes at our house! I'm debating on how much to actually get out this year. I want it all out and done but just don't really have the energy yet to do the actually do it. Our tree is only 4.5 feet (last year's special at Lowe's 2 weeks before Christmas for $15!) and have essentially nowhere to put it, so it goes in front of the bookcase and almost blocking the TV. I can't wait to have a bigger house again - I will go all out and decorate when that happens! I have special Christmas and winter candles I'm saving for our "first" house and stuff. How dorky is that?! ;)
My favorite part, by far, is turning on the lights on the tree after it is all decorated and turning off every other light in the house. It is soooo pretty. :) Least favorite part? Putting it all away.
Funny (or crazy?) story - about 6 years ago we got a new big honking 7' tall tree (when we actually rented a large house and had the room for such). I got it all put together (all the "J" branches on the bottom, the "I" branches on the next level up, etc. - imagine the fun!), got all the lights on it, put on some ornaments, and looked at it. It was slightly crooked, just didn't look right, and I couldn't stand the thought of looking at it for the next 5 weeks like that. So I did what any sane (ha!) person would do - I took every single thing off, including the lights, refluffed all the branches, and got it set on the base properly, then REDECORATED it. Yep, I'm that person. ;) Turned out to be a good story, and actually used it in my job interview for my current position in how I strive for perfection - lol.
p.s. - see, the striving for perfection *did* make me crazy! lol
When I was digging boxes out, I had that same thought of "Do we really need decorations this year?" but continued. I love getting a real tree but it's a major JOB!
LOVE your itemized run down of your decorating :-) I'm actually taking a break from decorating and that's just the thing I needed - you always make me laugh!
I had the same debate about decorating this year, um, except I was the only one involved and I still lost. lol.
I'm leaving for the actual holiday so not sure why I decided to decorate. It's planned for this weekend so lets see if I actually do it.
The worst part for me is taking it down and putting it all back away. I've been known to rename it a New Years tree to buy myself some more time.
Your house looks nice and festive!
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